Social media advertising is a little bit like rolling a snowball down the hill. First comes the hard labor of packing a ball of snow in your hands, then as you watch it roll down the slope, it starts out small, but the bigger it gets, the bigger it gets, picking up more and more snow with its immense size. The big difference is that, in marketing, you’re not rolling a snowball down a hill, you’re pushing it up the hill. It gets bigger that farther you push it, and eventually you’ll get over the peak and it will roll down the other side of the hill much more easily, but make no mistake: creating buzz is hard work, and if you neglect to keep pushing that snowball every day, it’s not going to reach the top of the hill.
So, here are five ways to push that snowball, every day, and improve your reach.
Post Daily
Make a habit of posting to your brand’s Twitter, blog, vlog, or Facebook once a day. Make sure that it’s content that is helpful, not necessarily promotional. Spinning older content can help you to fill in the gaps on your blog so that you don’t get burnt out, but remember that your followers crave new content.
Make Ten New Contacts a Day
Friend ten new people on Facebook every day, or add ten new people on LinkedIn, Google Plus or Twitter. Ten new people a day doesn’t sound like a big deal, but think of that as 70 new prospects a week, and a whopping 3,650 a year.
Spend an Hour on Research
Take an hour each morning as you sip your coffee or tea and check out Google’s news feed relating to your industry. Read a book or magazine articles relevant to your field. The more you know, the more you grow.
Send Five Emails
Letters of inquiry, replies to customers, follow-up emails to clients asking them how they’re doing. In the age of social media, emails have come to feel a little more personal than replies on Twitter, and just five a day can help to let associates, partners, prospects and customers know that you care. This allows you to hold onto the reach that you’ve fought for.
Take Part in a Conversation
Respond to people on your social media feeds. Take a stance, have an opinion, defend it (professionally, of course), show support for causes you’re passionate about. You don’t need to be one of those people that spends all day arguing with people on the internet, just be someone who actually interacts with the community.
The best part about all of this: it shouldn’t take you more than two or three hours. You can even do your research by listening to audiobooks or news broadcasts while you work out. These are small steps that add up in a big way.
Gilbert S is a writer and artist who lives in rural New Mexico with his wife and his dog, Sir Kay.
